A commentary posted at Mineweb examines “registered” silver inventory held for delivery in COMEX vaults, and finds that “there is less than 4% of annual mine supply available for delivery. In our view this is further evidence that we have reached the technical end of the runway. Simply put, prices must rise in order to attract more physical silverinto the delivery pool.”

Reuters reported earlier this week that the combination of “registered” and “eligible” inventory was at 28-month highs, but an article at Jesse’s Café Américain explained why “registered” is the more significant allocation, and noted that “The central banks may stand ready to lease increasing amounts of gold for sale into the markets if the price rises too fast … but they are fresh out of silver, and have been so for some time.”